Collapsible burial-casket



A.,W. ALBRECHT.

coLLAPsmLE BURIAL GASKET. APPLICATION FILED IULY 26,1918. 1,349799Patented Aug. 17, 1920.

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CLLAPSIBLE BURIAL GASKET.

APPLxcATIoN r1LED1uLY26.191B.

1 349,7 99, Patented Aug. 17, 1920.

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. casket.

UNITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT ALBRECHT, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

COLLAPSIBLE BURIAL-GASKET.

Application filed July 28, 1918. Serial No. 246,825.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT W. ALBRECHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have inventednew and useful Collapsible Burial- Gaskets, of which the following is aspecilication.

This invention relates to collapsible burial caskets, and consists inthe novel construction hereinafter disclosed.

An object of the invention is to provide a collapsible burial casketwhich may be readily assembled to form a durable, rigid casket Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a burial casket composed of sheetmetal and having its end, side and top walls hinged so that they may befolded into a relatively small compass for shipping purposes and whichcasket may be readily set up to form a rigid substantial container,there being provided means `for joining the matching edges of the wallsand top of the casket forming substantially water and airtight joints.

Additional advantages attainable from the invention will be obvious fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a casket embodying theinvention, the side, end and top walls being extended to show theconstruction and assembly thereof.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the casket with the side and top wallsextended and the end wall in upright or assembled position.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the casket in assembled position.

Fig. 4. is an end elevation of the casket with the walls in assembledrelation.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section illustrating the joining between theadjacent walls of thel casket.

In the embodilnent of the invention illustrated in the drawing, thecasket is shown as comprising a bottom wall 1 which is prefer'- ablymade with a concave inner surface so that it may be packed withabsorbent cotton or other suitable material, and so that any liquidgaining access to the interior of the casket will be caught below thesurface of the support for the body contained in the Attached to thebottom walls are legs or supports 2 for supporting the casket above thesupport upon which it may be placed.

casket.

The rear side wall 5 is composed of two parts hinged together by a rod5, and arranged to fold to position in which the outer surfaces of thetwo parts are together. The lower part is hinged on a rod 6 supported bythe upper edge of a slightly elevated flange 7 formed at right angles toand extending `vertically from the back edge of the bottom wall of thecasket. To the upper edge of the rear side wall 5 the top wall 8 of thecasket is joined by a hinge rod 9. The rear side wall and the top wallare adapted to fold inwardly as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, thetop wall turning backwardly upon the hinge 9 so that `the exteriorsurfaces Of the walls 5 and 8 are brought against each other, the innersurface of the wall 5 resting upon the outer surface of the wall 3.

The end walls 10 have a hinge connection 11 at the upper edges ofvertically extending flanges 12 formed at the ends of the bottom wall.The flanges 12 are of sufficient height so that the hinge connectionofthe end walls is above the level of the collapsible inwardly foldingside walls and top wall. Thus when the side walls, end walls and topwall are collapsed or folded inwardly the amount of space occupied bythe casket will be greatly reduced in respect of the casket when inassembled or set up position. When in collapsed position the casketmaybe readily crated in quantities and shipped, and when required foruse may be readily and quickly assembled.

In assembling the casket the matching edges of the walls are arranged toform a tight jointconstruction so that when assembled the casket will berigid and practically air and water-tight.A

Each of the side walls 3 and 5 has at its ends resilient lateralextensions 13, formed by back-turning the metal at the edges and forminga resilient round wall as illustrated in full detail in Fig. 5.

The end walls at their side vertical edges are in-turned to form atongue 14 so that when the side and end walls are brought to a verticalposition the tongues will engage in the grooves formed by the eXtensions13 to hold the walls together and form a tight joint connection betweenthe matching edges. It will be notedthat the inner Vedge of the tongue14 is slightly enlarged so that it will be lirmly held in position inthe channel 13 by the tree edge of the channel 13 bearing against theenlargement on the tongue 14.

The side wall 3 is formed with an overturned flange 15 at its upper edgeand the end walls 10 are formed with similar overturned flanges 16, Thetop wall 8 has an under-turned resilient flange 17 extending around theedges of the top on the three free sides thereof, so that when the topis brought to a horizontal position by movement on its hinge 9, theiange 17 will engage oVer the langes 15 and 16 forming a tightconnection between the top, the side and end walls.

Having described my invention, what claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

A collapsible burial casket, composed of sheet metal comprising a bottomwall; an upwardly extending end wall portion integral with each end ofthe bottom wall; a side wall pivoted to one side edge et the Abottomwall and being oldable inwardly negar/9e upon the bottom wall betweensaid end wall portions; an additional side wall composed ot a lower partpirotally united to the opposite side edge of the bottom wall and anupper part pivoted to the lower part and arranged to fold upon the lowerpart between said end wall portions to position the upper edge of theupper part above the edge of the bottom wall to which the lower part ofsaid side wall is pii'oted; a top wall of equal width with the bottomwall pivoted to the upper edge o said upper part o'l` said side wall andarranged to Ylold inwardliv lbetween said end wall portions and with itsedges vertically above the edges oll the boltom wall; end wall upperportions hinged to the upper edges oi the end wall lower portions andbeing loldable inwardly upon the top wall after the top wall has beenplaced as aforesaid.; means for interlocking the vertical edges ol theupper end wall portions with the side walls to hold all of walls invertical position; said means romprising inwardly extended tongues onthey vertical edges olf' the end walls arranged lo spring into lateralextensions on the side walls and curved resilient langes on the edges ofthe top wall arranged to interlorl; with iianges on the side and endwalls.

ALBERT lV. Alilll ICC/HT.

